3 Tips for Discussing Obamacare

Beverly Hallberg /
June 16, 2017

Americans love coffee, and they love to customize it. Me, I’m a medium, one Splenda, soy latte kind of girl. Choice is a good thing, and it’s one of the things that make America, well, America. Yet sadly, if you stand up for choice in healthcare, it’s likely that the people in your lives — family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers — will believe what they hear. But with so many persuadable Americans looking for solutions, now is the time to speak up. Here are three quick tips you can use, not only to set the narrative straight on Obamacare repeal, but change minds.

Tip number one: find common ground. Currently I’m surrounded by people with different opinions on healthcare. Yet I’m willing to bet we have one thing in common, and that’s that we want everyone to have access to quality, affordable healthcare. So start with that common ground. If you do, people will understand that you’re coming from a caring place. As Theodore Roosevelt famously said: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Once you’ve established common ground, it’s now about telling the story of those harmed by Obamacare. Perhaps you can share your own story. I’m a small business owner, I buy my own health insurance, and my premiums have tripled. But sadly I’m not the only one. When you take a look at healthcare cost across the country and realize that on average they’ve increased by twenty-five percent – and in some regions by a hundred percent — there are many stories that you can tell.

Tip three: offer solutions. Being against things isn’t enough. We must offer solutions. Well, here’s one great solution: choice! Right now, government mandates insurance cover far more than is necessary, including something as unbelievable as prenatal coverage for men, leading to higher costs for everyone. But if you make decisions, if you have the choice to decide what’s best for you and your family, not only do you get quality care, you get lower costs. And if we demand choice for so many different things in our lives, including something as simple as coffee, why wouldn’t we demand it in healthcare?

So there you have it: three quick tips on how to talk Obamacare repeal with the people in your lives. Start with common ground, highlight Obamacare’s victims, and offer solutions. Now it’s time to have that conversation, because if we’re going to set the narrative straight on Obamacare repeal, we all need to speak up.